Who is Lucia?

Lucia: dispeller of darkness, bringer of hope, giver of light.

One of the prettiest festivals celebrated in Sweden takes place every year on December 13th - "Lucia" brings light to the winter darkness (connected with the latin word lux, meaning light).

A girl - dressed in white, with a red sash around her waist and lingonberry sprigs in her hair supporting candles (the battery-powered kind are used today) - represents the Christ child. She and her followers, including star boys, sing carols and Christmas songs to gathered audiences.

Everywhere you go on December 13th throughout Sweden, from the village to the big city, the melodic notes of the beautiful Sanka Lucia verses will greet you. Along with the smell of the freshly baked lussekatt, the traditional scroll shaped, saffron-flavored bread served on this day.

The best thing about this day for me, is heading up to my children's school when it's dark outside, and watching my boys walk and sing the Lucia parade. At this young age, they choose to be either star boys, or just for fun a gingerbread man ("pepparkakagubbe"). The oldest girl in the class usually is Lucia and leads the candlelight procession outside. It's beautiful and moving to hear the children sing the Lucia songs, knowing that they are practised relentlessly for the past couple of weeks with their classmates to get the words and the tune perfect. And they sound great. Hot chocolate (or glogg for the adults) and gingerbread await us afterwards, to keep us warm in the chilly outdoors.

The origins of this festival, which is stunning when performed in the night darkness, dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries from a German tradition. The representation of the Christ child started to make an appearance in German circles in Sweden. But not wanting it to become part of their Christmas celebrations, the Swedes reserved a special day on December 13th, traditionally the first day of the Christmas fast. The Christ child then assumed it's present-day saint's name of Lucia. Stockholm held it's first official Lucia Day in 1927.